The present disclosure is generally directed to managing access to network resources and, more particularly, to preventing a user from unintentionally accessing undesired network resources.
With the promulgation of the Internet, the number of network resource addresses, including the number of phishing, advertisement-heavy, and non-content pages that prey on those who type in a network resource address incorrectly, has grown substantially. From the viewpoint of a user in a web browsing environment, it may be difficult to resolve minor variations in network resource addresses, such as web addresses. This may increase the difficulty a user faces when trying to reach an intended destination in a web browsing environment. For example, a user looking for information about Apple Inc. products on the web may inadvertently reach an undesired web destination, such as aapple.com, appl.com, or any other number of web sites preying upon the misspelling of apple.com.
A user may not always browse the web via bookmarks. For example, there may be web sites that a user may visit by typing the URL into the address bar of a web browser and, in some cases, allow the web browser to auto-complete the remainder of the URL address. If the user had at one time entered an address incorrectly, later when the user attempts to go to the same intended address, the web browser may auto-complete the address with the incorrect address.
For example, a user may occasionally access the web site http://www.apple.com. Variants of the apple.com site may include appl.com, appl.tv, and applemacs.com, among others. The user may access one of these variants by accident. The user may also click on a variant web link, such as applemacs.com, mistaking it for a site the user desires, such as apple.com.
With some web browsers, once a user types in an address, the browser remembers that address and suggests it to the user again in the future when it determines that user is attempting to enter that same address. In this example, some time later, the user may type in “appl” and the web browser may suggest appl.com which is not the user's intended destination. If the user selects appl.com again, it becomes even more likely for the web browser to suggest it in the future due to the heuristic algorithms used by the web browser.